It is well known to provide motor vehicles of varying styles such as, for example, hatchback, MPV, estate pick-up and convertible.
With recent changes in lifestyle many vehicle purchasers are desirous of having one style of motor vehicle for some uses and an alternative style for other purposes. For example, some people would like to drive a 2 seater open top vehicle for commuting or pleasure but may on other occasions need the space or versatility of an estate car, hatchback or MPV to transport goods, shopping or other more passengers. At the moment people require such different vehicles have to purchase more than one motor vehicle.
It is an object of this invention to provide a motor vehicle that can be converted between one style of motor vehicle and another style of motor vehicle in an economical and simple manner and an improved rear roof panel stowage mechanism for use in such a motor vehicle.
According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided a motor vehicle having a body structure including a rear roof panel which is moveable from an in use position to a stowed position by a pair of stowage mechanisms and at least two rows of seats wherein the rear roof panel is rotated forwardly and moved downwardly as it is moved from the in-use position to the stowed position so that, when in the stowed position, the rear roof is located between two of the at least two rows of seats.
The motor vehicle may have two rows of seats comprising a front row of seats including a seat for a driver of the motor vehicle and a rear row of seats including one or more seats for passengers of the motor vehicle and the rear roof panel, when in the stowed position, may be located between the front and rear rows of seats and overlies the rear row of seats so as to partly obscure them from view.
Each of the stowage mechanisms may comprise first and second elongate arms which are pivotally attached at respective first ends to a respective side of the rear roof panel and are pivotally attached at respective second ends to part of the body structure of the motor vehicle so as to form a primary four bar linkage between the body structure and the rear roof panel and an actuator means driveably attached to one of the first and second arms to reversibly move the rear roof panel between its in use and stowed positions by rotation of the respective arm to which it is attached about its respective second end.
The lengths of the first and second arms of the primary four bar linkage may be such that movement of the rear roof panel from the in use position to the stowed position causes a front edge of the rear roof panel to rotate downwardly as the rear roof panel is moved to the stowed position.
The first and second arms may be connected to the rear roof panel at respective first pivot points and are connected to the body structure at respective second pivot points and the distance between the first and second pivot points of the first arm is less than the distance between the first and second pivot points of the second arm.
The actuator means may comprise a linear actuator and a secondary four bar linkage to driveably connect the linear actuator to said one of the first and second arms.
The secondary four bar linkage may comprise a first drive arm having a first end pivotally connected at a first pivot point to the linear actuator and a second end pivotally connected at a second pivot point to part of the body structure of the motor vehicle, a link arm drivingly connected at a first end to the linear actuator and drivingly connected at a second end to a second drive arm having a first end drivingly connected at a first pivot point to the link arm and a second end pivotally connected at a second pivot point to part of the body structure of the motor vehicle, wherein the distance between the first and second pivot points of the second drive arm is less than the distance between the first and second pivot points of the first drive arm.
The second drive arm may be drivingly connected to the first arm of the primary four bar linkage.
Alternatively, the second drive arm may be formed by a portion of the first arm of the primary four bar linkage.
The actuator means may comprise a rotary actuator or a linear actuator driveably connected to said one of the first and second arms.
The motor vehicle may further comprise a moveable front roof and an area behind the rear row of seats forms a luggage compartment wherein the front roof panel, when in the stowed position, forms a cover for the luggage compartment.
The stowage mechanism for the front roof panel may comprise a pair of elongate arms attached to each side of the front roof panel and a drive means driveably attached to at least one of the pair of arms on each side of the motor vehicle to move the arms and a means to raise the front roof panel to permit the rear roof panel to pass under the front roof panel as it moves from the in use position to the stowed position before the front roof panel is moved to its stowed position.
According to a second aspect of the invention there is provided a method for converting a two box motor vehicle having at least two rows of seats, a moveable front roof panel and a moveable rear roof panel into an alternative style of motor vehicle wherein the method comprises moving the rear roof panel from an in use position to a stowed position in which it is located between two of the at least two rows of seats by rotating it forwardly and moving it downwardly.
The method may further comprise raising the front roof panel from an in use position to a raised position so that the rear roof panel can pass under the front roof panel into the stowed position.
The method may further comprise folding a rear row of seats forward and returning the front roof panel to the in use position to convert the two box motor vehicle into a pick-up style of motor vehicle.
The method may further comprise moving the front roof panel to the stowed position to convert the two box motor vehicle into an open top style of motor vehicle.
The method may further comprise moving the front roof panel to the raised position to permit the rear roof panel to be moved from the stowed position to the in use position.
The method may further comprise moving the front roof panel from the raised position to the in use position after the rear roof panel has moved to the in use position.